Nuns

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As mentioned in the preceding post, my article will mostly concentrate on empowering you to do your basic Feng Shui and also to focus on the amulets that can help you. As I was contemplating what to write first, I realized that the past few days I have been besieged by readers who are experiencing some serious problems now because of delaying on some important Feng Shui decisions.

Jessica is a pre-school owner who was born in the year of the rat. She claims to be a silent reader who never had the need to contact me for anything. However, this year she decided to get in touch with me because she read that it is going to be a difficult challenging year for most people born under the year of the rat. Jessica clarified that she read this not only on my blog but also on other Feng Shui sites.

When I got to talk to Jessica whom I have never met in person, she clarified that her only belief in Feng Shui is only up to the extent of reading them, doing what she can do, and she was quite frank in telling me that she has never believed in amulets or Feng Shui cures. She said that she follows more the teaching of Joey Yap where there is no need to use Feng Shui cures or charms or even amulets. So, when she called me she only wanted to know how can she be protected “naturally” and perhaps with a little chanting of mantras.

Needless to say, I told her how she can be protected, but as a responsible Feng Shui writer or Feng Shui blogger I cannot not tell her that she needs Feng Shui cures or Buddhist amulets to help protect her this 2018.

She was pretty brutally frank in telling me that she really doesn’t believe in amulets and Feng Shui cures. And she also added that she was just asking for natural protection to appease herself because really her school is doing so well and that she believes that everything is going to be fine. “Besides something really terrible must happen before I will experience those dreadful things that you wrote about the rat.” She frankly and somewhat rudely told me.

That was December of last year.

Just very recently, while I was in “hiatus” in the “almost goodbye” state that I wrote about, Jessica called me. Well, she called and called and emailed and constantly sent messages until I answered.

Apparently, she said she is desperate. All the things she said that will not happen unless a terrible thing happens happened. Well, it started with that terrible thing that she said has to happened first. In one of her school event, the stage where the students are performing for the parents collapsed! Seriously hurting 4 kids. One with a broken bone and the other one with a serious head injury and the other two with serious body wounds.

To make the long story short, she was sued, and she has to assume the hospital and other medical bills. These are kids from rich families, and the medical bills didn’t come cheap. She is about to go through court hearing, and to top it off several parents pulled out their kids and demanded a refund. The parents also said that when the accident happened, the school teachers and officers were not prepared and equipped to handle an emergency.

While in the middle of this, she also found out that another teacher whom she really trusts has recently contacted another pre – school owner and negotiated that she be hired there with a higher pay and position.

So, Jessica contacted me to ask for my help. She wants to get the SPECIAL GOLD PIYAO and all the other amulets that was “prescribed” to her before, and she is asking me how soon it will have an effect.

On top of the 12 ‘big’ heavenly money coin, it also has another 5 heavenly money coin on each side of the it’s harness. This further represents that the ‘owner’ of the Pi Yao can harness wealth into his or her life. On each side of its hind legs is the symbol for protection. This represents protection from earthly dangers and envious eyes, and also harmony so that one doesn’t get into a rough, hostile situation is one’s quest to simply get more financial luck to provide for one’s family. Also incorporated is the symbol for longevity to constantly provide good health

On top of that they designed the said Pi Xie’s with 12 heavenly money coins to represent wealth luck for each of the 12 lunar months. The coins are found on it’s back and also at the bottom part of the image and on his legs, so this represents that it walks on money and is need not ‘search’ for it.

It also has fierce but still friendly face, this indicates that while you can be fierce in business or work, you will still gain the support and admiration of the people around you. This also means that you can you charm to get to your wealth luck.

This limited Special Gold Piyao has 4 horns that represents the four cardinal directions – East, West, North, and South. This means that one will be able to take by the horn the challenges to gain financial luck.

This is a special gold Piyao designed by Guru Lama and made of blessed gold.

Other than the magic inscriptions at the bottom both designs are basically the same.

Instead of only coins at the bottom of the Piyao, there are magical words that connote protection, abundance, luck, health, etc. What design one gets will depend on what one needs.So if you are a person who really need to attract money only or is in a bad financial situation, you will get the one with only the Heavenly Money Coin. However, if you already have abundance of wealth and needs only to safe guard it, or if you also need protection, and good health, and abundance in other aspect of your life, what you will get are those that have the magical inscriptions that will further bring all these aspects to your life. It is Guru Lama who determines this, thus we will request for your birthdate when you request for a Special Gold Piyao.

Another reader experienced a similar thing, Patricia is a reader from Spain. She was born in the year of the Dragon. When she contacted me she just wants to ask me whether it’ll be good for her to transfer to a new company. She works as a graphic artist. In the process, I saw something in her chart and told her that she will need the VAJRAPANI RUEL and maybe the SPECIAL GOLD PIYAO as well.

The Vajrapani Ruel looks simple, maybe even rustic, but this simple amulet is packed with a special talisman paper inside, with various ingredients, which includes Namtso Salt, soil, various herbs and plants, crystal, and a relic from a high lama. It’s important to put the ruel inside a amulet holder or something sturdy as to not ruin it. If the cloth had tear which exposes or spill the ingredients inside, the ruel becomes useless. The Vajrapani Ruel itself is only about 1 to 2 inches and it varies from one ruel to another.

She is interested but she said they find the amulets quite pricey. Explained to her why authentic and powerful are pricey, that they are not really buying it but the stipulated amount covers for the cost of the amulet, and that they are used as an offering to the temple or for feeding novice Buddhist monks or nuns.

She said she is not interested but that she will be careful.

Also during my “hiatus” I got a long-distance call from an unknown number. When I answered, it was Patricia, and she was a little frantic. She was laid off from work and she found out about this after she spent her (approved) vacation of 2 months in Thailand and here in the Philippines (Iloilo, Boracay, and Bohol), and what’s worst is that she recently used her last savings as a down payment for a new car! It has 3 weeks and she has applied to more than 10 companies and she has not heard from them. She is asking me what to do. Told her to chant mantras, and unfortunately while she thought of getting the amulets now she doesn’t have money for it anymore.

Both Jessica and Patricia had time to save themselves from experiencing the things that they had to go through. However, they didn’t prioritize protecting themselves maybe because one this doesn’t seem to be tangible, and also everything seems to be going really well at that time they found out about what they need.

The sad thing is although I’m writing only about the story of Jessica and Patricia, the truth is I know of a lot of people who are currently experiencing some hardships because they refuse to trust their gut feel about Feng Shui.

One lesson which we all have to learn is when to listen to our gut feel. To our instinct. When to discern when that the doubt in our head is really a doubt or our logical mind not understand how Feng Shui and amulet works and creates a defense mechanism of doubt. I would like to humbly suggest this. When it is not in your consciousness and it was brought to your consciousness with no apparent reason or by accident it is most likely a positive force telling you something. Or when you accidentally meet a person who tells you something that brings Feng Shui or amulets to your attention, or when you are online searching for something and brings your attention to something that even for a briefest moment makes you think that you need, then that will most likely the universe telling you to act. Don’t delay fixing and protecting yourself with the use of Feng Shui or Taoist amulets or Buddhist amulets, because sometimes it will be detrimental.

Many of you already know of the special amulet rediscovered by Guru Lama from an old Tantric Scripture. He has first made this 20 years ago and has since made it several times. But this year, just a few months ago, because of some conflicting energies that we are experiencing from the last 3 months of the 2017 lunar year, and also because of the lack wealth luck, financial luck or money luck in 2018 as indicated in its bazi chart, Guru Lama has released the Vaisravana – Dzambhala Wealth Amulet a few months ago, and more recently the Special Gold Piyao.

As of now there are people who has requested for the Vaisravana – Dzambhala Wealth Amulet who claims to have experience some financial miracle already. However, I would like to hold off sharing their stories for a while until I’m positive that indeed they got the miracle from this powerful wealth amulet.

But today, I would like to share with you the wonderful story of a humble Sangha member of the temple where Guru Lama serves as the Abbott. Qai May Chin (QMC) is a 67 – year – old widow with 3 children. She is a Sangha member of the temple and she would always go there to help clean the temple, and she would sometimes cooks for the monks and the nuns.

Whenever Guru Lama and/or the other lamas and nuns will ask her about well – being, she would always just smile a sincere happy smile and say that ‘Buddha is good.’

However, Guru Lama sense that she is having some problems but that she won’t open up with him, and so Guru Lama instructed one of the nuns to inquire what she is really going through.

The Vaisavana – Dzambhala Wealth Amulet has the consecrated copies of the mantras of King Vaisravana of the Four Heavenly Kings and the mantras of the Five Dzambhalas. Furthermore, there are some special ingredients in powder form that are included to add to the potency of the amulet. Before it is sealed it is furthered consecrated on the image of The Four Heavenly Kings.It is placed in a metal case, not just for its durability and protection but according to the Tantric Buddhist Scripture book where Guru Lama got the instructions for this amulet, it has to be placed in cylindrical metal case to symbolize continuity and stability.

The nun whom Guru Lama instructed to inquire about QMC’s well – being did inquire about and after much prodding she found out that QMC is having some financial problem because her children and grandchildren who all also goes to the temple once a week are all hardworking, but somehow they always are lacking. What is worrying her is that when something big happens like if they get sick they will not have enough money to pay hospital bills, and also she wouldn’t want to be simply renting a small apartment unit for the rest of her life.

Guru Lama naturally took pity on her and decided to make the Vaisravana – Dzambhala Wealth Amulet for her. And then wonderful things started to happen to her family. Although she is only working part time at that time, she notice that her children’s and her older grandchildren’s finances are getting better. Soon, the eldest was able to get an apartment for themselves, and then she was asked to stop working by her children. While they are not rich, they have enough to live comfortably.

QMC is now 83 – years – old and she still goes to the temple everyday. While she no longer cooks for them, she still insist on doing so work for the temple, like wiping images, or even simply cleaning table.

QMC profess that it is the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas thru the Vaisravana – Dzambhala Wealth Amulet that she got some luck for her family.

You can read the following posts to know more about the Vaisravana _ Dzambhala Wealth Amulet:

Regular readers of this blog will know that I don’t usually write my forecast until January, since lunar new years come in sometime late January or February or early March, but last year I wrote my forecast early because it was necessary, this year will be the same, I will write about the 2018 Year of the Earth Dog Forecast base on the Bazi Chart (Paht Chee Chart), Flying Stars Formula and 24 Mountain Star Formula quite early because 2018 is going to be a little quite challenging in term of money making or financial luck.

However, that forecast will be posted in the next few days, because I want to cross-reference my calculations and analysis with that of my Feng Shui teacher in Hong Kong and Guru Lama.

But as discussed with Guru Lama that it is important that I give you a ‘peek’ already of one important factor for 2018 because it is important that we must prepare for it.

This year the Bazi Chart is extremely lacking of the metal element. By extremely lacking I mean it’s totally devoid of the said element, and as fate would have it, the metal element this year represents financial luck or wealth luck or money luck. So it is easy to conclude here that moneymaking capabilities doesn’t look hopeful. Financial aspects will be quite challenging.

This is not surprising since all Feng Shui experts or masters has predicted that the last part of 2017 Lunar Year which run between November to January will have a conflicting energy as shown by the 2017 Bazi Chart or Paht Chee Chart. Financial and Wealth luck is also going to be quite limited already, and this will continue to 2018 as the chart indicates we don’t have the metal element which for 2018 represents wealth luck or financial luck or money luck.

In the past two preceding posts I already have talked about this. But let me reiterate some part more clearly and also add the aspect of the 2018 Paht Chee Chart.

What this means?

This means that earning money might be a little harder, especially those who are in the business. Stocks will not do well as well, and as we can see here in the Philippines, there is already an indication of this since the government itself has announced that there was a 95% decline in foreign investments. The worst we ever had in recent history. To some extent we faired better during the Cory Aquino regime even though it was besieged by numerous coup attempt, because the decline in foreign investment then was not that high. With all humility a 95% decline is not a decline but rather it means foreign investments has become almost non – existent. No country can survive without foreign investments.

To put it into context or proper analogy so that it is easier to understand, it is like a family in a house that is trying to be self – sufficient. Kids will be thought at home, with things that are only found at home, no buying of books outside. The parents will try to earn money from home without outside buyers. Electricity and water are produced at home with no outside help. Food our simply from their own backyard without allowing rain or sunshine to come in to grow the plants, or poultry are raised without buying feeds. Is that possible? Totally possible? One may survive a few months but how can one survive totally being isolated?

Aside from the Philippines, this is already happening, albeit to a lesser degree in countries, namely Malaysia, USA, UK, etc.

Technically everybody is affected, because if business owners are affected employees are definitely affected as well.

Furthermore, you might find yourself put in a situation wherein you will lose money either by spending it or by ‘losing’ it either thru carelessness or bad business deal. This November to 2018, it is best not to lend somebody money.

If there is any consolation, even there is no metal element ergo wealth luck / financial luck / money luck on the bazi chart of the 2018 Year of the Earth Dog, there is however a small sliver of hope that can be found in the hidden stems. Will discuss this further in the main forecast, but what does it mean for us.

It means those who are going into the 2018 Year of the Dog prepared will not suffer or experience this financial drought as much as other would. What preparedness means is being prepared both in practical manner or Feng Shui wise.

Practically speaking, it is best to ensure that your contracts are in place and that your client or business stakeholders won’t be able to rescind from it. This is what I did 2016 when my Feng Shui forecast is really bad; that before 2016 entered I made sure that my business will survive. Of course, this is not the only way to protect your business, if you have established good relationships with people, you will find people giving you leeway and or pushing you to help you maintain good business.

If you are an employee, and if you have been working hard and has been recognized your boss, you will find yourself having some kind of an edge over those who don’t work hard, or those who work hard but doesn’t make themselves recognized by the superiors.

Make sure also you review all business transactions carefully and that you study your investment thoroughly. It will also be good if you will spend your money wisely.

In Feng Shui it is important that you armed yourself with powerful wealth charms like the ingot or three – legged toad. Make sure these charms are made of gold.

Wearing a Three Legged Toad Pendant is considered very auspicious and it captures wealth for you.

It is also important for all of us, regardless of our bazi chart to wear more gold this year, yellow gold is better because we will also need the yang energy it provides. Furthermore, you can wear powerful Buddhist amulets. The following are what I highly recommend:

VAISRAVANA – DZAMBHALA WEALTH AMULET is a powerful wealth amulet that I recently introduced on this blog. It is an amulet rediscovered by my Guru Lama about 20 years ago and has decided to make because he has foreseen this worldwide financial slump that is about to happen. Furthermore, this amulet is in a metal case, and we all need to have more metal in our body. You can read more about here by clicking on the link below at the end of the article.

VAJRAPANI RUEL is another powerful amulet, perhaps the most powerful amulet in the Buddhist pantheon, although, it is first and foremost a protective amulet rather than a wealth amulet. However, it should be noted that a lot of people who has the Vajrapani Ruel has experienced superb wealth miracle / financial miracle / money miracle. Some almost instantly and some gradually.

The Vaisavana – Dzambhala Wealth Amulet has the consecrated copies of the mantras of King Vaisravana of the Four Heavenly Kings and the mantras of the Five Dzambhalas. Furthermore, there are some special ingredients in powder form that are included to add to the potency of the amulet. Before it is sealed it is furthered consecrated on the image of The Four Heavenly Kings.It is placed in a metal case, not just for its durability and protection but according to the Tantric Buddhist Scripture book where Guru Lama got the instructions for this amulet, it has to be placed in cylindrical metal case to symbolize continuity and stability.

The Vajrapani Ruel looks simple, maybe even rustic, but this simple amulet is packed with a special talisman paper inside, with various ingredients, which includes Namtso Salt, soil, various herbs and plants, crystal, and a relic from a high lama. It’s important to put the ruel inside a amulet holder or something sturdy as to not ruin it. If the cloth had tear which exposes or spill the ingredients inside, the ruel becomes useless. The Vajrapani Ruel itself is only about 1 to 2 inches and it varies from one ruel to another.

WEAR AN IMAGE OF KSITIGARBHA BODHISATTVA or MAITREYA BUDDHA or MEDICINE BUDDHA made of gold.

Guru Lama is also releasing a SPECIAL GOLD PIYAO (also spelled as Pi Yao, Pi Xiu, Pixiu, Pi Xie, Pixie). A Piyao is quite common, but as I always say it is best to get the one with an active stance and not the one lying down or relax stance, this is specially true for 2018 Year of the Earth Dog.

This is a special gold Piyao designed by Guru Lama and made of blessed gold.

A Piyao or Pixiu or Pi Xie is a celestial animal known for its protective qualities when facing the Tai Suey. This celestial animal that is part of the Three Celestial Guardian is a great ‘peace’ offering to the Tai Suey or Grand Duke Jupiter. However, more than just as an offering it is a very powerful wealth accumulator.

As mentioned, the Pi Yao or Pi Xie is a mystical creature that is particularly powerful and auspicious. It is said to have a voracious appetite that is infinite. The interesting part is that the Pi Yao does not have an anus, which means things only go in but never come out. On top of that, the Piyao as directed by the Jade Emperor (who is the highest God in Taoism but is a powerful heavenly being in the Buddhism) is only able to eat gold and silver. It is therefore a favorite must-have for businessmen and merchants who want money to come in and not spill out a dime. It is no wonder that Pi Yao can often be seen in banks, casinos, foreign exchange markets and finance companies in Oriental countries. I mentioned earlier that traditionally, a Piyao is not an animal meant to be worshipped, but, in countries like Thailand and Cambodia, people worship the Pi Yao and offer incense and flowers within business premises. Having said this, if your Piyao is made of natural crystal its okay to light an incense in front of your Piyao not to worship it but to cleanse it from a negative ‘energies’.

Regular readers of this blog knows that even if the bazi chart of the year doesn’t lack wealth luck, I still firmly believes in the power of the Pi Yao or Pi Xie or Pi Xiu. But on 2018 Year of the Earth Dog and the coming years, starting this last quarter of the 2017 lunar year, the Pi Yao plays an important role for everybody. It is one of the Holy Trinity for the year, the will ultimately play an important role for one’s security in wealth luck / financial luck / money luck.

People who personally know me might have seen the jade Pi Yao that I regularly wear on my wrist with my citrine bracelet. However, this year I will upgrade it to the Special Gold Piyao released by Guru Lama.

There are a lot of Piyao in the market, but what makes this special?

This is specially designed by Guru Lama so that it best represents and embody the wealth acquiring abilities and also fight the negative energies of the remaining lunar months of 2017 and also the lack of money making energies of 2018.

This limited Special Gold Piyao has 4 horns that represents the four cardinal directions – East, West, North, and South. This means that one will be able to take by the horn the challenges to gain financial luck. It also has fierce but still friendly face, this indicates that while you can be fierce in business or work, you will still gain the support and admiration of the people around you. This also means that you can you charm to get to your wealth luck. Furthermore, it is a ‘special harness’ so one can ‘harness’ it’s energy, this is something that is not found in any other Piyao’s or Pi Xie’s. On top of that they designed the said Pi Xie’s with 12 heavenly money coins to represent wealth luck for each of the 12 lunar months. The coins are found on it’s back and also at the bottom part of the image and on his legs, so this represents that it walks on money and is need not ‘search’ for it. On top of the 12 ‘big’ heavenly money coin, it also has another 5 heavenly money coin on each side of the it’s harness. This further represents that the ‘owner’ of the Pi Yao can harness wealth into his or her life. On each side of its hind legs is the symbol for protection. This represents protection from earthly dangers and envious eyes, and also harmony so that one doesn’t get into a rough, hostile situation is one’s quest to simply get more financial luck to provide for one’s family. Also incorporated is the symbol for longevity to constantly provide good health. Lastly, although quite small and not easily visible, the Piyao was designed to have strong sharp teeth, to represent its power to fight off demons and also negative energies that might cause bad luck. There are a lot of Piyaos especially those that are made out of jade or other stones, but this one is specially designed to confront the remaining negative 3 month of the lunar 2017, and the lack of wealth energies of the 2018 Year of the Earth Dog.

This limited Special Gold Piyao has 4 horns that represents the four cardinal directions – East, West, North, and South. This means that one will be able to take by the horn the challenges to gain financial luck.

It also has fierce but still friendly face, this indicates that while you can be fierce in business or work, you will still gain the support and admiration of the people around you. This also means that you can you charm to get to your wealth luck.

On top of that they designed the said Pi Xie’s with 12 heavenly money coins to represent wealth luck for each of the 12 lunar months. The coins are found on it’s back and also at the bottom part of the image and on his legs, so this represents that it walks on money and is need not ‘search’ for it.

On top of the 12 ‘big’ heavenly money coin, it also has another 5 heavenly money coin on each side of the it’s harness. This further represents that the ‘owner’ of the Pi Yao can harness wealth into his or her life. On each side of its hind legs is the symbol for protection. This represents protection from earthly dangers and envious eyes, and also harmony so that one doesn’t get into a rough, hostile situation is one’s quest to simply get more financial luck to provide for one’s family. Also incorporated is the symbol for longevity to constantly provide good health

But on top of that, the gold used in making the said Piyao are gold from the offering of the Sangha members to the temple.

Buddhist would offer money, food, flowers, oil, incense to an image, but a lot of them especially those are in grave situations will also offer gems and gold. It can be a gold necklace, gold bracelet, gold rings, or gold earrings, but it is not surprising to see even real miniature or small gold bars or gold coins. These gold offerings are recorded for proper auditing and then put in a special container under the foot of either the image of Sakyamuni Buddha (Sakyamuni Buddha), Medicine Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, Dipankara Buddha (Dipamkara Buddha), Bodhisattva Kuan Yin (also spelled as Kuan Shi Yin, Guan Yin, Guan Shi Yin, Quan Yin, Quan Shi Yin, Avalokitesvara, Kannon, Chenrezig), Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Earth Store Bodhisattva / Di Zhang Wang Pu Sa) or Vajrapani Bodhisattva. They are just there for years, and whenever the Bhiksu (Monks) or Bhiksuni (Buddhist nuns) with the higher lamas chant mantras or recite sutras or perform pujas, the said jewelries or gold offerings are blessed as well. Then once in a while they open one of these containers to melt the gold to make an image of a Buddha or Bodhisattva or makes gold flakes out of it so that when we invite an amulets, they can ‘sell’ these gold to make said images of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas or make images under our name. This becomes a way for them to raise funds to make more images or temple or food for the monks especially the student monks and also for their food.

So you see, because they stay under an image for years, and they get the power from the chanting of mantras, reciting of sutras, or pujas from the Bhiksus, Bhiksunis or the high lamas like Guru Lama, these gold items becomes really blessed. And this is what Guru Lama has used to make the said Special Gold Piyaos.

But simply wearing a Piyao or the Special Gold Piyao is not enough. You need to ensure that the element that produces metal is constantly present in your life as well. Thus the Special Gold Piyao is strung along with some crystals. However, this is where it becomes personalized because the crystal or semi – precious stone while largely earth element that will harness the growth of metal, should also be dependent on the element that best represents your own wealth luck. So for some it will be citrine, some will be amethyst (like me), some may have jade or aventurine, some may have clear quartz or a moonstone, and some may have lapis lazuli or tourmaline or onyx.

As mentioned the Special Gold Piyao will play an important role and is one of the Holy Trinity must have amulets of the year. However, having this Special Gold Piyao for the rest of your life will also prove to be a powerful tool to continue to harness wealth luck / financial luck / money luck and also serves a great protection charm. Furthermore, if you find yourself confronted by Tai Suey or the Grand Duke Jupiter, it also serves as great ‘offering’.

But aside from the above mentioned charms and amulets. It will also be good if one can chant everyday under deep meditation a full mala of the mantras of King Vaisravana and the Five Dzambhalas (also spelled as Dzambala, Jambala, Jambhala, Zambhala, Zambala). For those who are not familiar with this you can read the Creation of Wealth Series.

To understand this year’s forecast, you should read all the other related 2018 Year of the Earth Dog Feng Shui Forecasts:

Although, I have made some political forecast on this blog, this blog has never been political. One of the latest ‘political’ forecast I have written is about the 2016 Philippine presidential elections. Both my forecast regarding the presidential and vice – presidential results both came true. As I have said, those are forecast and although it is about politics, the nature of the post is not political.

Today, however, I’m going to write about something that may be perceived as highly political. I want to write about the plight of the Lumads. If you are a Filipino who have watched or been up to date about the current political situation in the Philippines, you would have heard about the Lumads. In fact, the Lumads has supported President Rodrigo Duterte in the last election. However, recently just before the State of the Nation Address (SONA) one of their leaders has come out and blatantly said that they regret supporting PDuts and that it was a wrong decision fro them to do so. Consistent with the President’s personality, if you criticize him, he will attack you, and so he did and said that he will bomb all the Lumad schools because they are run by NPAs. Since the announcement, the DND Secretary has since announced that no such move will be made.

After the SONA, I have heard of people attacking the Lumads, but upon probing they seem not aware of who the Lumads are and what are their plight. And so I have decided to write about Lumads and their sad plight. Please note that some parts of the post might be perceived as critical or as highly political. The truth is as much as I want to avoid being political there are truths that can’t be avoided and I do have to write about it, these truths, unfortunately, are political in nature.

So here’s a brief on the struggle of the Lumads.

Lumad is a generic term for all Mindanaoan tribes but I think this excluded all Muslim tribes. .

As tribes their ancestral lands have been threatened many times, on different issues, and by different groups.

Their usual struggle are with loggers, big and small scale, mining companies, big and small scale, etc. To put it simply, any group or anybody who threatens their ancestral lands is also a threat to the Lumads. For years they are being driven out of their ancestral lands to the point that they no longer have stability and peace. Different groups now reach out to the tribes – religious groups (Catholic and Protestant), International and Local NGOs. Government agencies are not as aggressive in helping, if not totally not felt.

Education is also a challenge because DepEd does not put up schools in remote communities. They expect the IPs (Indigenous People) to walk kilometers on end, and expect them to blend with non IPs.

Aside from the fact that DepEd’s curriculum is not IP friendly. It does not have special subjects on culture, tradition, and other IP related issues, which are very important to help them maintain their identity and culture.

Being so, different groups, in different areas different groups have opened IP schools, with volunteer teachers being given “allowances” only. Some teachers are really LET passers that doesn’t have the privilege of having backers at the DepEd and are unable to get a job. So instead of working as cashiers, store clerk or house maids, etc, they’d rather teach even if they only go home 1x, 2x a month and receive only allowance.

The curriculum in these schools are more sensitive to IPs. Of course, there’s emphasis on environmental protection like it’s not proper to cut down trees, and one should take care of rivers, seas, and mountains.

There are ares where the oppressors are aggressive. Mining companies that have driven out IPs maintain PAGs or Private Armed Groups which co exist with the local Phil Army. PAGs have high – end ammo, sometimes they are even than what the army carries. Several of my friends has seen some of them carrying AK -47.

In areas of Davao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, mining companies are trying to explore “other” sites, which are ancestral lands of the Lumads. These are also the sites where the oppressors are more aggressive.

Lumads doesn’t have any weapons, unless bolos are counted, but they only use it for their daily life like chopping bamboos.. Lumads are generally peaceful tribes or people. They’re not warriors like the Tausugs. So when threatened, they NEED to look for help. So when they become vulnerable because of a threatening situation, they don’t have much choice but to ACCEPT the help of the NPA. The Lumads also admit that there are a few ‘renegade’ Lumads that are being recruited by the PAGs. Of course, in situations like this, money is involved. These renegade Lumads turn their back on their tribe.

As mentioned Priest and Nuns also help the Lumads. The nuns who sells Turmeric Powder, they usually get it from the Lumad communities.

Of course, each group has it’s own approach. The church usually helps in education, livelihood and spirituality. The NPAs provide protection and security.

At this point I would like to make it clear that there is no way I condole violence and support the ideology of the NPA.

2 years ago, a foreign owned mining company that seems to have ties with a Congressman from Visayasdrove out and burned a community in Surigao which they have been wanting to EXPLORE but the Lumads have tried so hard to protect. Because of this the PAGs killed the executive director and 2 volunteer teachers in Surigao IN FRONT of the whole Lumad community. PAGs with the local Army (of course they denied), gathered the whole community, separated the men, women, children they then slit the throat of the ED, then gun down 2 teachers in full view of the shocked Lumads.

Governor Pimentel (although some say he is also connected with Mining companies) took the thousands of Lumads and housed them for over a year at the provincial sports complex. He challenged the national agencies (NBI, PNP, AFP) to arrest and disarm the PAGs.

The national agencies said, why didn’t the police of the Governor arrest them? But according to the governor the .38 caliber of their police is literally rusty, how can they fight with PAGs with AK47!

Anyway, no apprehension was ever made.

It is sad that lately the Lumads are evacuating the area again because they are being harassed either by PAGs or the Army.

This problem has been existing for quite some time, and it is difficult to put the blame on a single administration. However, it is also clear that mining is one of the main reason of this attrition. But so far, mining continues, despite of the pronouncement that the administration is against it, it does continue to these days. Gina Lopez was supposed to be the hope and savior of the Lumads, but her efforts were put to an end when the Commission on Appointments didn’t approved her, and it is perceived that the president didn’t put pressure on CA to have her approved.

Anyway, so every so often, this is what happens to the Lumads. PAGs will threaten Lumad communities, the church will help, but when violence erupts it really are the NPAs who help them.

The Army is said to hate the IP schools because IP kids become more intelligent and know their right because of the IP schools.

Before I end this post, I would like to state that this is how I understand it, but please feel free to learn more about it by doing your independent research. I would like to stress here, I don’t mean to put what the NPAs are doing in a good light, neither do I support any form of violence, be it from the rebel or from the government. I also don’t support the ideology of the NPAs.

I’m a strong advocate of real amulets and a firm believer of one. In fact, a lot of times amulets has become my ‘security blanket’, something that I really need to be able to help me go through my day or week. In fact, last 2016 I greatly relied on amulets to protect myself from bad the effects of the bad stars.

But the question is whether do we really need amulets and why are real amulets so pricey?

Allow me to answer the first question first. Do we really need amulets?

To answer that question allows me to share you the story of somebody who may be familiar already to my readers. BM is a reader who became a friend. She is successful and regardless of what happens she seems always at peace. She may get frazzled a little but it doesn’t really last long. I have featured BM on this blog several times and it would be nice if you read some of the articles that I have written about her.

The Vajrapani Ruel looks simple, maybe even rustic, but this simple amulet is packed with a special talisman paper inside, with various ingredients, which includes Namtso Salt, soil, various herbs and plants, crystal, and a relic from a high lama. It’s important to put the ruel inside a amulet holder or something sturdy as to not ruin it. If the cloth had tear which exposes or spill the ingredients inside, the ruel becomes useless. The Vajrapani Ruel itself is only about 1 to 2 inches and it varies from one ruel to another.

The Illness Suppression Amulet or Illness Protection Amulet is a special highly consecrated amulet made by my Guru Lama as a cure for the Illness Star a star that also causes accidents. It has the energies of the Medicine Buddha, Namgyalma Buddha, Amitayus Buddha and White Umbrella Goddess. Furthermore, the small black thing you see at the bottom of the glass amulet holder is a Dharma Pill, which is made from a second – class relic of a confirmed holy lama. It also has a small amount of ash from the last Medicine Buddha holy initiation conducted by my Guru Lama, and aside from individual special consecration, the whole amulet was further consecrated under the Tooth Relic of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Pure Land Buddhists believes that when you wear a Surangama Mantra Amulet, heavenly beings that has an affinity with you will hover over you.

This is a Kalachakra Pendant designed by Lillian Too. She has included some mandala sands inside the pendant to make it more potent. I personally love this pendant and has one that is made of white gold. The Kalachakra Symbol is a powerful protection symbol. It is actually ten syllable mantra compressed into one symbol. The mantra is HO HAM KSHAMALA VARAYA HUM PHAT. However, it is usually chanted with OM AH HUM thus making the complete mantra as OM AH HUM HO HAM KSHAMALA VARAYA HUM PHAT. It is because off this that for the WISH FULFILLING AND BUDDHA’S BLESSING MANTRA PENDANT, I decided to put the symbolic script OM AH HUM on top of Kalachakra Symbol.

These are just one copy each of the very limited copies sent to me by my Guru Lama of the THE SUTRA OF THE PAST VOWS OF THE KSITIGARBHA BODHISATTVA, THE DIAMOND OF PERFECT WISDOM SUTRA and THE MEDICINE BUDDHA SUTRA. Sutras are also used as very powerful amulets, that is why you will often old Buddhist Chinese houses has a copy of the Sutra on their altar though they might not be reciting the sutra itself.

So what do I think are the causes of her success?

First, her spirituality. I will not describe her as religious. At least, not in the sense of the word on how we describe it. She goes to church everyday, she hear mass everyday, she prays the rosary and do novenas everyday. In fact, she prays the rosary more than once everyday. And yes to some extent she can be described as religious, but she is really more than that. She is spiritual. Religion for her goes much more deeper that the essence of the word. And you know what is really fascinating about her? She never or seldom prays for herself. Her prayers are always for other people. With or without problems she goes to church and says her prayers, maybe even more so when everything is good. This is I think is the first ingredient of her success.

Second, she has a good heart and is very compassionate. She is compassionate; many times she has shared with me whether directly or indirectly how it is to be truly compassionate. And she really has a good heart. I know she gives to charity only because there are times that it is unavoidable for her to share it with me, which is done in the process of sharing with me some lessons. A truly compassionate person will always be blessed.

Third, she works really hard. She is intelligent, but more than that she works really hard. When I went to see her, one of her staff told me that her boss, BM, is really hardworking. In fact, she rarely goes home before sunset.

I think those are the main ingredients of her success. But more than her success she has a good family life also and I can see her husband is still ‘madly’ in love with her. I haven’t really had a long interaction with her children, but they seem to be respectful children. Mind you, they should already be in their rebellious stage.

The amulets for her are simply just an added protection or enhancer, and it is not the main ingredient of her good life. In a way, the amulets are simply an added sugar.

Allow me to share something else with you. The Buddhist monks or nuns rarely carry with them any amulets, aside from the powerful protective symbol Kalachakra. While I know that the Dalai Lama, and the Karmapa, while escaping the Chinese government did carry an amulet they seldom carry one all the time. The Dalai Lama carried an unknown amulet, and the Karmapa is said to have carried a Vajrapani Ruel(2) with him. But other than that, Buddhist monks and nuns don’t carry amulets with them, or if they do it is limited to one piece only. But, of course, most of them do meditations and chanting of mantras and reciting of sutras and do various rituals more than half of their day, everyday!

So to answer the question whether does we really need amulets, my response would be NO. It helps. It helps a lot. For some people and in some circumstances it may be essential, but if we get to the bottom of it, if we have a strong relationship with the Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, or Taoist Gods, or for Christians to your Lord, or for Islam’s to Allah then my answer is no. There is no denying that amulets like the Vajrapani Ruel(3) has helped a lot of people, but there are people who have survive without it. At the end of the day, have a strong faith, be truly compassionate, and work hard both for your career and for your relationships, and you’ll find things will be going smoothly.

Now, then the second question is why are real amulets really pricey?

First, take note of the keyword real. Real powerful amulets are seldom massed produce. Sure they can make more than 1,000 pieces per batch, it is seldom made out of a machine. They are always made by hand. A real amulet is made several days and will be mostly likely involves being made inside a temple, in front of Buddha or a Bodhisattva and should include some relics has part of the ingredient (like the Vajrapani Ruel4) or at the very least being consecrated in front of a relic. It is definitely made by a trained Buddhist Monk and cannot be made by ordinary practitioner. Sometimes, it will include some rituals outside the temple, but will definitely include a process being done inside the temple.

The Jatukam involves some rituals by the sea and mountains. And has a relic from the temple being included in the process. They make several thousand pieces by the batch and sometime take awhile before they can make the next batch. The Vajrapani Ruel(5) involves a relic of a high lama, and can never be made without it, so the last time it was made was a little more than half – a – century ago. This batch that we have now has about a little more than 1,000 pieces but it is considered limited because we don’t know when it is going to be made again. And it can only be made in certain places in Tibet.

The Illness Suppression Amulet(2), and the others are not as difficult to make, but still they are made or consecrated only by a lama that is recognized to have the capabilities of invoking the energies of the Buddhas or Bodhisattvas to make the amulet holy and become an extension of the Buddha or Bodhisattva whose essence is being invoked.

Furthermore, while making it is customary to offer a fruits, vegetables, flowers, incense, and oil lamps. So when acquiring an amulet, this is what you pay for. But that’s not what makes it pricey.

It is also customary to give a ‘donation’ to the monk who made it. But this is a misnomer because in truth the money doesn’t go to the one who made the amulet but rather it goes to the temple, for the building of additional temples or halls, for images of the Buddhas or Bodhisattvas or for feeding the monks.

In the case, of the Vajrapani Ruel(6), Illness Suppression Amulet(3),the Avatamsaka Amulets(1) the Traditional Sutra Amulets(2)and other amulets, the money goes to the offerings of fruits, incense, vegetables, flowers, oil lamps, etc. But more than that it goes to acquiring of the image of a Buddha or Bodhisattva that goes to a hall in a temple that is being built in India (for the Vajrapani Ruel(7) a big chunk of the money goes back to Tibet in helping the people there who are oppressed by the Chinese government) and it becomes a perpetual offering of the person who acquired the amulet.

VS is a 57 – year – old husband and father of six. He is a Taiwanese who got the opportunity to meet my Guru Lama in one his trips to Taipei. VS who grew up as a Buddhist heard from one of his friend that there is a visiting Tibetan monk who will give an intimate talk in their local Buddhist temple. VS for some reason thought of seeking out my Guru Lama.

Unfortunately, VS was not able to get into the talk. The temple did accommodate more than what the original number that they announced but because the place is quite small, they were unable to accommodate more even if they wanted to. But my Guru Lama, upon hearing that there are more people waiting outside the Buddha Hall, decided to do a short blessing for those who wanted to hear him talk. Mind you my Guru Lama is not a famous Lama but somehow he attracted a large group. My Guru Lama to personally bless one – by – one everybody who wasn’t able to enter the hall to hear him talk.

When it was VS’ turn to be blessed, he broke the instructions and begged my Guru Lama to give him time to talk to him because he wants to air out his concerns. My Guru Lama agreed to meet after the session ended.

In that session he aired out his sentiments, my Guru Lama never shared with me what he and VS talked about that day. But when I met VS in a special ceremony conducted by my Guru Lama in Singapore, VS shared with me what he shared.

According to VS, he has been poor all his life, and has been going to the temple to pray that he may have a better life, a good life. He also said that two of his sons, unfortunately got into drugs and he said that’s also the other reason he wanted to seek out my Guru Lama. Furthermore, the most important reason for seeking out my Guru Lama is that his wife has cancer and he was hoping my Guru Lama could help.

VS shared with me that my Guru Lama took pity on him and gave him a special amulet. When he got the amulet he made a promised to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas thru my Guru Lama that when his life become better he will make donations to the temple (not necessarily at the temple of my Guru Lama) and that he will continue to feed the monks and Buddhist nuns in India.

A few months after that he said he was offered by a rich guy to become an industrial partner in a business that the rich guy is putting up. His wife’s cancer was healed through chemotherapy, even though initially the doctors said that they are not very optimistic that the chemotherapy will take the cancer out, but it will only prolong the life of his wife. Both of his kids went to rehab and were eventually released ‘rehabilitated’.

That was about 7 years ago. I met VS 4 years ago when he was only about 53 years old. He looks old. He looks about 70 and I’m not exaggerating. We both met in Singapore in a special ceremony conducted by my Guru Lama. He went there for free thru a sponsorship of the other students of my Guru Lama. Somebody hosted him because he was too poor to get a hotel room, even a budget one.

What happened? According to VS he was not able to fulfill his promise. He didn’t make the donation; he didn’t donate for the food of the monks or nuns. But most importantly, he forgot about the Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, he forgot about my Guru Lama, and worst of all he forgot what gave him the luck. His wife passed away because of cancer, one of his sons died of overdose, and his other son is also back being a drug addict. He lost his business because his business partner pulled out because VS ‘became a different person’.

VS is the one who shared with me all these. I asked him whether he became bitter and he said yes. He contacted my Guru Lama again, and like a prodigal son by Guru Lama ‘accepted’ him again. According to my Guru Lama the reason why VS had bad luck again is because he sort of ‘lied’ and indirectly ‘slandered’ the Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas, and the Sangha by renegading on his promises that he made when he was really down. He did get his good luck, but it was not sustained because he forgot about his promises.

Some people might say that this is harsh. Maybe, but we should all remember that karma is not controlled by the Buddha or Buddha or Bodhisattva or Bodhisattvas. It is totally dependent on what we do. They may help prevent it but in the end by showering us with good merits, but at the end of the day, it is up to us. In this case, VS was the one who discredit the good luck that he got.

I write this now I also notice that some people when they consult me for concerns and try to request for either the Vajrapani Ruel or Surangama Mantra Amulet or the Illness Suppression Amulet, they tend to make promises like – when I get a miracle I will do this, I will do that. But sometimes they fail to do so. It doesn’t matter whether the promise was mentioned to me, to a friend, or even just to one’s self. Because a miracle is a miracle, and once you commit to do something for the temple or the Buddha or a Bodhisattva do it. There should be no excuses.

Writing about the life of Siddhartha Gautama (also spelled as Siddartha / Siddharta) is a very big task, because there is just simply a lot of information about Him, and I really don’t know how to write about Him in this blog.

Today is a special day because this is my 700th article, and I thought I’d write about Buddha Sakyamuni (also spelled as Shakyamuni) because in a way I have reached a milestone. However, I still don’t know how to write about his life, but instead I will write about one of the most frequent question people ask me: If Amitabha Buddha is known for protection and Medicine Buddha is known for health and wealth, what is Sakyamuni Buddha known for?

First, all Buddhas or Bodhisattvas are capable of doing all things, it’s just that they have certain vows or certain character drawn from vows or life as written in the sutra that makes them known for certain virtues.

This is the most common image of Sakyamuni Buddha!

Rare form of the image of Shakyamuni Buddha, which I like better because His other hand is in the Mudra of a Blessing!

Buddha Sakyamuni is the Historical Buddha because He is the Buddha who manifested in human form in this lifetime. Amitabha Buddha also manifested in human in a different lifetime. And in the next lifetime Bodhisattva Maitreya is the one foretold to be the Buddha who will manifest in a human form. Anyway, Buddha Sakyamuni is also called the Fundamental Teacher because all the Buddhist teachings that we know now and all the Buddhist practices that we know now came from Him. It is in this regard that Buddha Sakyamuni is said to bring about wisdom for all of us. But more than that His wisdom is especially for leaders who lead their country, city, business, or even department.

In a hostile environment, having the Vajrapani Ruel to tap into the power of Bodhisattva Vajrapani is important to give us a winning edge. But pairing the Vajrapani Ruel with the power of Buddha Sakyamuni, will help give you wisdom how to diffuse the hostile environment. Buddha Sakyamuni, when He was still in human form also managed several Sangha communities, each Sangha community consists of about 2,000 Bhiksus (monks) and several more Bhiksunis (Buddhist nuns) and most of these communities also have Upasakas (male Buddhist students – not monks) and Upasikas (female Buddhist students – not nuns). And he is able to manage all of them all of these Sangha communities without having major concerns or problems. So when we tap into the power of Sakyamuni Buddha (Shakyamuni Buddha) we are able to tap into His power of managing a community (in present life businesses, departments, etc.) in a way we are able to gain respect and love but at the same time leadership powers.

Furthermore, Sakyamuni Buddha in so many ways is also a diplomat. Politicians (Emperors, etc.) would go to Him and seek His advice, more than that He has curbed some wars and conflicts. This shows that when we tap into His power we are able to become diplomat and deal with high statesmen with confidence.

The best way to tap into the power of Sakyamuni Buddha and honor Him is by chanting His mantra, wearing His image, and more also lighting incense and making offerings in front of his image.